Fantasy sports: Relax, if you catch my drift

Traditional fantasy baseball knowledge has said that one need not pay much concern to catchers. This is still largely holding true, but for reasons in opposition to the rule’s original spirit.

Catchers often hold onto major league jobs because of their defense or adeptness at handling a pitching staff. Both of those are difficult concepts to translate to fantasy baseball, but I hear Bill James is working on a new stat to quantify it.

Until he crunches those numbers in a way he tells us makes sense, though, we have to rely on traditional offensive numbers to give value to catchers in our game. You know, that area actual teams have not worried about when it comes to the position.

There always seem to be a select few offensive stars behind the plate, but one has to jump early in a draft to get them. Once they were nabbed, it became pointless to grab one of the second-tier guys when the difference between the one you could grab in a middle round and the one that could be had much later was minimal.

That still may be the case, but it is because the position is deeper than I can remember. It also appears to have good long-term health with many solid youngsters poised for potential breakouts, even if you don’t know their names.

For example, who realized that the Rockies’ Wilin Rosario led the position in homers last season with 28? There are some concerns about his being a defensive liability, but at only 24 years old, there is time for him to improve on that while finding even more power in that thin Rocky Mountain air.

It pains me to write about someone born in the 1990s because I can feel a hair turn gray as soon as I do, but the Royals look prepared to go with Salvador Perez behind the plate this season, and he doesn’t turn 23 until May. Perez will go to Kansas City after having won Rookie of the Year honors in the Venezuelan Winter League, batting .371 with eight homers, 10 doubles and 39 RBIs in 32 games. He posted good numbers with the Royals in the second half last year (.301, 11 homers, 39 RBIs in 76 games).

The Mariners also will be going with a 23-year-old at catcher, with Jesus Montero slated to get the starting job. His .260 average and 15 homers last season didn’t blow anyone away, but Montero hit .308 in five minor league seasons and had 21 homers in Triple A in 2010. He isn’t elite yet, but is already serviceable with time to mature.

There are other catchers who should be entering that final maturation stage. The Brewers’ Jonathan Lucroy will turn 27 this season. He batted .320 with 12 homers and 58 RBIs in just 88 games last season.

Also hitting that magical age of 27 is the Blue Jay’s J.P. Arencibia, who showed some power with 18 homers in 102 games last season. And now he now has a potentially much better lineup getting on base in front of him because of Toronto’s extreme offseason makeover.

Arencibia’s fantasy stock went up when the Jays shipped 24-year-old catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud to the Mets as a key cog in acquiring R.A. Dickey. Whether d’Arnaud begins the season in the big leagues is worth keeping an eye on. It hasn’t been ruled out and it doesn’t seem the Mets have anything to lose by letting their future play now in the majors.

Then there is the White Sox’ Tyler Flowers, who turned 27 just last month. The Marlins’ Rob Brantly won’t turn 24 until July. The Padres’ Yasmani Grendal is only 24, but he has to start the season by serving a 50-game suspension for being such a man that his testosterone was off the charts.

Even the names at this position that everyone knows include players who may not have reached their peaks yet. The Giants’ Buster Posey is already a two-time World Series champion, won a Rookie of the Year Award, and is the defending National League batting champ and MVP, and doesn’t turn 26 until next month.

The Indians’ Carlos Santana is entering his third full season in the majors, is a clear top-five pick at the position, has a team that made moves in its lineup (adding Michael Bourn, Drew Stubbs and Nick Swisher) and on its bench (welcome Terry Francona), and he turns just 27 in April.

Baltimore’s Matt Wieters set career highs in home runs (23) and RBIs (83) last season while tying his top mark in hits (131), and he turns 27 in May.

Even Joe Mauer, who now feels like a grizzled veteran who should be telling stories to the rest of these players from a rocking chair on a porch while drinking lemonade, is coming off a career-high 147 games played in 2012 and come April will hit the ripe old age of 30.

As for me, I’ve reached the end of this column and my fingers need a massage and some Ben-Gay.